Novartis reacts with chemical arm spin-off

Newly formed Swiss drugs giant Novartis, the result of a merger between Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, has spun off its chemicals arm under the name of Ciba Specialty Chemicals. It is one of the world’s biggest spin-off transactions to date.

The visual identity was created by Canadian-Swiss consultancy Gottschalk & Ash International, which was shortlisted with London groups North and Trickett & Webb, and Cato Design in Australia. Preliminary ideas were submitted by more than 20 groups.

The dotted butterfly marque, used to symbolise transformation, was launched last week and will roll out on to signage, stationery, publications, promotional tools, vehicles and packaging. Ciba’s brochure has been designed by Pauffley PRL.

The Novartis name and logo were developed by Siegel & Gale (DW 15 March 1996), which also worked on the name and marque for Sandoz’s spin-off chemicals business Clariant two years ago.